By Kaia Skillman
Sam Pepper, a well-known prankster and Youtuber with about two million subscribers, recently sent Youtube into a frenzy after he posted yet another video where he groped unsuspecting women and filmed their reactions. In many of his videos he features “pranks” where he assaults and harasses women. One such video involves him handcuffing himself to random women on the street, refusing to release them until they agree to kiss him.
The video that most recently prompted a large backlash, titled ‘Fake Hand A** Pinch’, was a so-called “social experiment” where he stopped women on the street to ask for directions and used a fake arm to touch their behinds without their consent. After each encounter he revealed his hidden hand and approached each women for a conciliatory hug. While some women laughed nervously, others took a more clear position with one woman clearly saying, “I don’t like that!” The video has since been taken down from Youtube after people took to Twitter and used the hashtag #ReportSamPepper to denounce his actions.
Sam Pepper’s response was equally disgusting. He posted two videos, the first a remake of the original where women groped men (however it was swiftly taken down from Youtube) and a second where he claims the first video was a “social experiment” and the whole video was made from scripted and willing participants.
He comments in his video, “The majority of viewers were disgusted by such displays of open sexual harassment — that’s how it should be,” and “we should be disgusted by such acts. It’s nice to see how society is finally catching up on how this affects women”. So, let’s get this straight – Sam Pepper, in order to combat sexual harassment and raise awareness within our society, decided to grope and harass women? And what about his other sexual harassment videos – are they also social experiments?
While it is wonderful that most have recognized the dreadfulness of Sam Pepper’s sexual harassment videos, it is important to look at the larger, more horrifying picture. By publishing these “pranks”, people all over the world receive a powerful and dangerous message: groping and touching women without their consent is a humorous and normal thing to do. If this is the future of Youtube, or more importantly our society, you should be outraged.
The Paw Print 